Take Note

John McPheeNat Geo '94 on Walt WhitmanSara Levine's Substack

Adam beams in from a room near the lobby of a Grand Cayman hotel room to discuss what we've been jotting in our notebooks, app boredom, school dropoff chaos, and book recommendations. And in a new feature, Radio Take Note, we offer up two songs that are worth sharing. Book recommendationsA Gentleman in MoscowBelcantoMy Brilliant FriendLonesome DoveThe AdultAll the Light We Cannot SeeAngie McMahonSprints

Field Notes "The Chicago Look" EditionColt Bowden Sign Painting BooksPenchetta Pen and Knife StoreProfolio Oasis Notebook

Ted steps in it when comparing a local celebration to Mardi Gras, plus some impromptu haiku, real rodeo cowboy names, and notes from the baseball tournament. And a leading question: what pen is most like a pencil? Houston Livestock Show and RodeoUni Jetstream EdgePentel sign penProject 3.18's Spring Training Story

Adam's NotebooksJust Tell Me Who It Was by John CheeverVineland by Thomas PynchonJamelle Bouie favorite film genresAnnhiliation by Jeff VanderMeerThe Acid House by Irvine WelshPablo DelcanThe Imperfectionist (Oliver Burkeman) The Secret Pentagon War Game…

It's baseball season! To commemorate this happy time of year, Ted made an audio recording of an essay that he wrote in 2014 for a collection called “The Who, the What, and the When” put together by Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski, and Matt LaMothe on the theme of historical sidekicks. Adam also contributed, as did Dan Kugler (underground legend for his work co-hosing the Slackers episode) and lots of other cool folks. In Ted's essay, he shares a vignette about Hiroshi Arakawa, the hitting coach of Japanese baseball legend Sadaharu Oh. Every short essay is accompanied by a staggeringly beautiful illustration. The mind-blowing illustration accompanying his essay is by the awesome Paul Windle.

Notes from between 1606 and 1607, the beauty of alternate takes, using notebooks to refine ideas, and why the pencil is a Zen object. Caravaggio essay, NYRBWilco, A Ghost is Born box setKafka's Diarieszen

DDC x FN Turquoise TributeAt the Existensialist Cafe by Sarah BakewellInside the Fight Against a Los Angeles InfernoJokermenTurkey and the WolfCasamento'sMidori Grain Memo PadThe Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper

In this episode we share notes from a Texas snowstorm, journals from the olden days spark creative, a dream journaling update, a new segment, and discuss the new work from John McPhee in the New Yorker. We also announce the new book we'll read together and discuss. Please enjoy!Stationerdy notebook from Dapper NotesOhto sharp pencilTabula Rasa Volume Five by John McPheeTake Note book club, The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper

In this episode we share notes from a Texas snowstorm, journals from the olden days spark creative, a dream journaling update, a new segment, and discuss the new work from John McPhee in the New Yorker. We also announce the new book we'll read together and discuss. Please enjoy!Stationerdy notebook from Dapper NotesOhto sharp pencilTabula Rasa Volume Five by John McPheeTake Note book club, The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper

The ThemeNorthwestern University Media LibraryToday's Number Is…Peggy Guggenheim Museum ShopEasy Everything Internet CafeRushmoreA Complete UnknownJoan Baez Tax Debt

It's 2025, we look at some year-starting notebooks, discuss how one might use the Notes app with paper notebooks, and share our slate of waddya gots. Ted's audio changes a few minutes in, sorry about that!On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej BalleOctavia Books, New OrleansFlights by olga tokarczukBrief History of Seven Killings by Marlon JamesRose MatafeoLamy Hardcover notebook with Lamy rulingDoane paperStandard Memorandum 2025 by Word. and designed by Jon ContinoTake Note Patreon

In the last episode of 2024, we haphazardly bring the heat, rambling from one topic to the next. We range across used bookstores, endurance in art, a notebook of the week, and a exegesis on Sirius radio.Becker's BooksJohn K King Books, DetroitLarry McMurtry: A Life by Tracy DaughertyBookedUP AC, originally Booked Up, Larry McMurtry's bookstore in Archer City, TexasWhite Lines notebooksThe Work of Art by Adam MossBob Dylan's Theme Time Radio HourTake Note Patreon

Enter the WizardB&N Villain NYT 2022B&N Back NYT 2023B&N Back NYT Also 2023Mainstreet Books DavidsonVectors by James Richardson Glorious ExploitsField Notes Vintage EditionBoston General Store Take Note Patreon

We spend some time discussing writer Oliver Burkeman's thoughts on time and tasks, but not before covering wood chipping wisdom, baked waiters, salsa spiciness, and fast food divorce.Oliver Burkeman

Solemn Oath Field NotesPapier TigreThe Unfinished Notebook podcastStaedtler Lumograph PencilsBeer recommendationsPentel CalmeGeneral's Color-Tex PencilTombow ABT PensTombow Unions Hat

Complicated Halloween party scenarios, track meets, notebook use cases, doing a little better every day: it's all here this week.The Empusium by Olga TokarczukClairefontaineJohn Cheever storiesDaily Stoicpatreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/takenoteemail us: takenotecentral@gmail.com homepage: takenote.space

Jeremy Strong on Fresh AirJeremy Strong on WTFVictory Brewing CompanyKeep Honking I Also Am A Goose Bumper StickerThe Empusium by Olga TokarczukThe Birds and Trees of North America Field NotesClaire Fontaine Classic SpiralRhodia Sewn Spine Rhodiarama NotebooksSpiral Decomposition Notebook

Ryan Slie joins us as co-host this week for a rousing round of waddya gots and a discussion of NEW TEETH by Simon Rich. takenote_pod We're on InstagramNew Teeth by Simon RichHold Your Breath on Huluemail us: takenotecentral@gmail.com homepage: takenote.space

Ted and Adam dig into the mailbag, the email bag: reading a week of emails from 2014 to see what we can learn from ourselves. Old brands, office pools, and errant invitations.Al Pacino's essay in the New YorkerMain Street Books, Davidson, NC

Adam and Ted bring their notebooks to middle school and concert hall and to middle age. Help The Aged2024 XOXO Field NotesDemetrius Oliver's "Aerial"Field Notes Glitch EditionField Notes Index EditionThe Third ManColson Whitehead's Weird Little ListHow To Write A Mystery

Our notebooks are sandy and water-stained, beat up and full of notes from the summer as we look to the next season. Three Potato Four NotebookField Notes beerShakespeare and Company by Sylvia BeachLauren Collins of the New YorkerAn Editor's Burial, a companion to the French DispatchPaul Schrader on imdbemail us: takenotecentral@gmail.com homepage: takenote.space

Endo Announces Extension Of U.S. Rights For Voltaren GelNew Yorker Summer 2024 Fiction Issue

Adam's got some game-changing comfort ideas; Field Notes has a beer out; titles of Tolkien; mystery book chit-chat; some podcast recommendations. Goshi wash clothField Notes beerReckon True StoriesNYT 100 best of this centuryShell Game

New Yorker Summer Fiction Issue 2024Fratelli Bonvini MilanCheck out the ScarabookEdizioni PrecarieBeppe Giacobbe Riccardo Luci FlorenceIrish moss for paper marbling

We talk writing and music this week alongside our typical super-charged banter. And the notebook of the week!Fire Mike MilesLouise GluckThe Work of Art by Adam MossTabula Rasa: Volume Four by John McPhee in the New YorkerStory Club with George SaundersWaxahatcheeGood MorningCharley CrockettDEHDNYT Magazine: How Khruangbin's Sound Became the New Mood Music

Field Note Arceo editionDoane Grid + Lines NotebookThe Last Kind Word SaloonNorcom Spiral NotebookPaul Auster ObitAlice Munro Obit

Adam finds a tonic for spider bite, makes Uber conversation, Ted reads the Hobbit, Adam witnesses a short story, Ted passes a collision center. We also talk about the fun and potential of drawing little comics in our notebooks as more of a daily practice.Original Sin Black Widow CiderVox review of Making Comics by Lynda BarryPapier Tigre From 2019: Sidenote: Chasing Paper in ParisWork of Art by Adam Moss

Doane Paper Gridlines Idea BookDenik NotebooksThe Notebooks of Sonny RollinsJeff Tweedy How To Write One Song

Doane Paper Gridlines Idea BookDenik NotebooksThe Notebooks of Sonny RollinsJeff Tweedy How To Write One Song

Baseball writer and storyteller Paul Jackson of Project 3.18 joins us to discuss his project, wherein he serves up truly fabulous true stories from baseball's past. The kind of stories you'll tell and re-tell at fantasy baseball drafts. Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila HetiA Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende Project 3.18 by Paul Jackson. Baseball stories!an ill-fated night of Cleveland baseballflour-bombing at Chavez RavineJim McManusA's to play in SacramentoLegatoria Polleria, Venice

The Rings of Saturn by W.G. SebaldField Notes Flora EditionEmmy Star BrownJenna BlazevichPentel Sign Pen via Austin KleonUni Style FitMotion

Trips to the museum, business dinners, digging into Ted's pen haul from Jet Pens.Picasso at the Art InstituteWerner Herzog's bookGeorge Saunders substackPilot ILMILYSakura BallsignOhto FUDETick and Pick

Field Notes Foiled AgainEnerGel Euro Needle-PointUniStyle Fit Slim Gel PenTomBow Air Press BallpointSakura Ballsign Gel PenTomBow Mono Graph Lite BallpointKinokuniya BookstoreLauren Laverne on House MusicFiona Apple Fetch the Bolt CuttersJosh Ritter Sermon on the RocksKehinde Wiley NotebookBeliever Issue 40

We dig into our book club read Vertigo by WG Sebald, share our notebook of the week, and more. The Vaster Wilds by the master Lauren GroffDenim jacket stuff on our newsletterABOUT: BLANKS, our notebook of the weekBoston General StoreThe Locavore by Caroline WeaverPeter MendelsundVertigo edition with Mendulsund coverTake Note episode about SlackerSebald obituary, NYtimesSupport the podcast via Patreon

Papermate FlairMaking Comics by Lynda BarryThree Potato Four NotebookAcross the MoominverseWeird Science

The Vertigo by WG Sebald reading project continues, Adam pushes Mitt, and Ted has a denim jacket project.Vertigo by WG Sebald, book club!Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry HowleyFoundation by Isaac Asimovthe only Bob Dylan patch

Gabbert Quote and Olives PicDeep VellumD For DapperThe Word Pretty by Elisa GabbertExteriors by Annie ErnauxWorld Within A Song by Jeff Tweedy Vertigo by WG Sebald

Adam adjusts to getting glasses for distance and gives small business the business. Write notebooksField NotesPatreon: jump in to receive the annual commonplace zine

The Official Netflix CookbookAmazon Has Hollywood's Worst Shows but it's Best Business ModelField Notes Birch BarkField Notes HeartlandDan McCarthy

Dapper Notes – Enon Avital's unique, beautiful notebooks covered in lush paper and fabric and filled with excellent paper – occupy a special place in the notebook landscape. Brimming with color and texture, they elevate the pocket notebook to an art form, and the hand of their creator quite literally graces every book. Enon is that creator, and we had a lovely time learning why he started producing beautiful books, the pleasure he takes in sharing the process, and the care he takes in creating objects that are inherently unexpected.Dapper Notes

Candy Cane Green TeaClairefontaine Mini NotebooksPocket LeuchttturmEvan Osnos' China's Age of MalaiseApple Store Employees Can't Use These WordsEssayismSara LevineLindsay Hunter's Hot Springs DriveMaria BamfordWilco at Metro

Ted and Adam hone their predatory instincts by writing daily poems.Field Notes Foiled AgainMegatheriumCreature ConservancyDaniel Clowes - MonicaLast of the Summer WinePatreonEmail us at takenotecentral@gmail.com

Lemn SissayLemn Sissay and Lebogang Mashile on Start the WeekThe Trumpet of the SwanHow Emilly Wilson Made Homer Wilson ModernEmily Wilson YouTubeField Notes Birch Bark Field Notes ShelterwoodRobert Frost BirchesVandals Who Trashed Robert Frost's Home Take Poetry Classes as PenanceDromgoole's Clairefontaine CollectionAtlas Stationers' Clairefontaine CollectionSakura BallSign IDBlackwing MatteErasable Podcast

Ted and Adam navigate numerous potential false memories. Adam remembers his trip to Poland – and a unique stationery store – quite well. Adam also runs through a haul of Japanese stationery. Texas Instruments model 104 watchTop Drawer Helvetica penMidori Grain memo padOlga TokarczukRo-Biki notebookKinokuniya Katy

Field Notes Tin O DartsField Notes HarvestDaniel Johnston and WilcoField Notes Foiled AgainRetirement the Margaritaville Way

Summer is almost over, so what could be more appropriate than breaking down the stories in the New Yorker's summer fiction issue? Ryan Slie joins us, to our delight. Sign up for the Substack newsletter!Field Notes DDC Standard Issue Factory Floor Elton John's “I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues”Houston Astro Bill DoranField Notes Kraft - AmberDapper Notes

Walking In Memphis"The Midnight Zone" by Lauren GroffLauren Groff New NovelRaymond Chandler by Anthony FowlesBirnam Wood by Eleanor Cattan4,000 Weeks by Oliver BurkemanOliver Burkeman Archive at The GuardianDickerson on the Urgent/Important Matrix

Summer is in full swing as we read strange letters, overhear videos in strange places, look for Gogol in strange stores, and ever so much more.Some Came RunningLauren Groff Georges SimenonJustWatchField NotesDapper NotesMulholland DriveAlways Take Notes

SolarpunkJudge John Hodgman: This is the Name of Your MulletGalveston Railroad MuseumField Notes Coffee Farm Costa RicaField Notes DDC LogosDave Eggers on Maurice SendakJesse BallArthur Bradford's DogwalkerAdam's June 2023 Playlist (Apple Music) (Spotify)The Wager by David GrannThe Collected Maxims of W.G. SebaldThose Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Adam reflects on his experience with Martin Amis, Adam's archive is all screwed up, Ted bounces around San Francisco and reads a couple of books. And a correction: Ryan Slie was not reading Anna Karenina.Field Notes Leap of FaithMartin AmisKinokuniya San FranciscoLamy Flagship Store San FranciscoCity Lights bookstoreThe Real Work by Adam Gopnik